It is typical in the electronics industry to employ various terminal pins or posts to connect components to a printed circuit board. Generally, the circuit board includes a plurality of closely placed holes in a particular configuration to match the configuration of a particular component, with the holes through-plated with a conductive material. Each component usually includes mating pins or posts which correspond to the through-hole configuration. The component pins mate with the through-holes providing continuous conductive contact between the component and the circuit board. Usually the mating pins are soldered to the board, providing an essentially permanent connection. However, should the component fail, the solder must be melted to separate the component from the board. The component is then removed, a new component with mating pins inserted and soldered to the board. With the continuing trend to increasing component density on a circuit board, replacement is quite difficult to perform without damaging the component or disturbing adjacent components.
One alternative to a permanent connection on a circuit board is to include a socket on the circuit board for releasably engaging the component. However, such sockets are costly to construct and install, requiring customized board design, and require more board surface than available with closely spaced through-holes, which would reduce available board space. Consequently, there is a need in the art to provide apparatus for simplifying the removal and replacement of components from a circuit board without requiring excessive board space or costly circuit board or processing modifications.